Thicker than Water

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Alex Chambers stood on the helicopter landing pad his fingers pressed to his forehead to block out the morning sun. He was dancing from one foot to the other, unable to hide his excitement.
"I see them!" He shouted back to his mother, who was standing near the entrance with a medical team. None of them knew what kind of shape their heroes would return to them in but Alex didn't seem to care. Already he was hopping up and down waving at the chopper as it drew closer. He cheered when Chris Redfield waved to him and repeated the action when Jill Valentine did the same. But as the helicopter touched down his smile began to fade. Not everyone he'd hoped to see was stepping out.
"What happened?" Rebecca Chambers soon came to stand beside her son, her lips set in a thin line as she looked from Chris to Jill. "Where is Parker?" She'd done her best to keep herself from saying this man's name first but she couldn't seem to help herself. "Where's Jessica?" She added, hoping this would make for a decent cover up.

"Well the school can mind it's own business." Alex hissed, glancing toward where the dark haired girl was trying to sneak away. "And so can you. Don't you have anything more mature to do than harass a little girl?"

"Not yet." Nicole replied, fixing her green eyes on Alex. "Don't let her fool you... She's not as vulnerable as she lets people think. One of the older boys found out the hard way when he made fun of her for having no mother."

"More fool him." Alex whispered, jumping down from the tree from an impossible height. He landed in front of the girl they called Nicole and gave her a little shove, laughing when she landed in the dirt.

Nicole practically glowed, she was that angry. "You'll regret this!" She swore, making her sound like some sort of old movie villain.
The girl they had been bullying had retreated to the library, knowing that afternoon classes would beginning shortly. Like Alex, she too had been given a rather rigorous academic program, one she didn't quite care for.

"Are you skipping too?" Alex asked as he sat down across from her at the table. At some point since crossing the school yard over to the library, his nasty attitude had left him. He was again missing his mother and now Parker and was trying anything he could to make sure he didn't have to think about them.

The girl's vivid blue eyes were just about visible as she lowered her book slightly. "There is little this place could really teach me." She replied, though didn't elaborate. "Despite their claim to be an unparalleled learning establishment." She certainly didn't speak like the other girls either.

Alex was nodding. "They're no better than those teachers in the valley, despite what they say." He told her, thumping a book in front of him. "You're still not going to tell me your name, are you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nicole didn't tell you?" She asked, though continued reading. The book she was holding was rather heavy, but even her slender hands seemed to have no trouble holding it. Anyone else of her age would have seemed a little out of place reading the collective works of Shakespeare.

"Have you read Hamlet yet?" Alex asked, unable to hide a pleased smile. It was nice to meet someone else like himself. The other kids had looked at him funny when he'd told them what he liked to read.

"I haven't gotten to that one yet." The girl replied, once again not looking up. "Taming of the shrew is my favourite." She added, her sapphire eyes again glancing over the top of the book. "Why do you want to know my name? It won't earn you any points around here by associating with me, trust me."

"I just wanted to know." Alex muttered softly, pushing away from the table. "Taming of the shrew is terrible. That woman is such a bitch. But I guess that kind of association works for you."

"I guess so." The girl rose up from the table, carrying her book with her. "But the less attachments you have, the less ways people have of hurting you." She replied, already passing Alex. "And for the record, my name is Violet."

"Nice name." Alex told her truthfully, watching her walking away. He didn't know why he suddenly felt so funny. He'd never even cared about girls before. But this one was different...

Violet was staring down at the pages of her book that evening as she waited for the evening meal bell to ring, but for some reason... She couldn't concentrate. This wasn't like her. Since she could remember, her only friends had been the fictional characters in books, something her father detested.

Alex had been caught hiding in the bathroom around the last class and had received a grave punishment for it. He entered the meal hall with his head down and his shoulders slumped. He hated it here and right now he hated Parker for making him come.

Nicole made a beeline for Alex's table once he had seated himself. She sat down opposite him and flashed a bright smile. "I have decided to give you a second chance." She informed him. "I will help you establish yourself as one of the popular kids here at school, on the condition that you help me with a pest infestation we have here." She added, purposefully casting her green gaze over to where Violet sat eating alone.

"I didn't know you considered yourself a rat." Alex muttered, his head still lowered as he poked at the tray he'd brought with him. "You certainly scurry around like one anyway."

Nicole slapped Alex's fork out of his hand in fury. "How dare you speak to me like that!" She hissed. "You thought we made shrinking Violet's life miserable? Just you wait until we get started on you, blue eyes!" She then stormed away in a swish of blonde hair, her groupies trailing after her.

Alex threw back his head and laughed, the sound quieting the entire meal hall.

"I told you." The headmistress said to the screen beside her. "Your boy is pure trouble. I am not sure having him here is wise."

Violet's sapphire eyes were watching everything g with a quiet curiosity. Her father had been right when he told her things would get interesting when Alex finally arrived.

Wesker smiled at this comment. "You told me that when I sent Violet to you also." He commented. "Perhaps you are not as capable as I first thought..."

A butter knife slammed into the wall next to Nicole's head. Alex clearly wasn't going to take her threat as lightly as it first appeared.

"Are you seeing this?!" The headmistress all but howled, though she managed to keep her voice down. "I am not keeping those ruffians here. I don't care how much money you throw at me!"

Violet's father had given her specific instructions to keep Alex from doing anything stupid. She imagined this counted as stupid. She was on her feet and calmly wandering over to the wall, pulling the knife out. "Nicole, I suggest you take your bleached rat tails out of here before you break a nail." She told the taller girl sweetly, turning the knife over and in her fingers.

"You will keep them there until they are collected." Wesker informed the headmistress. "Do with then as you wish, but they will remain, or I will hold your own child as payment. Understood?"

Alex wanted to go home right then. He wanted to make a break for it and get as far away as he could. Even as others watched he shoved to his feet and ran out the side doors, making short work of the distance between here and the library.

The headmistress turned off the monitors, not for the first time wondering what she'd gotten herself into. She'd helped this man too many times, she'd already seen him ruin lives. And all in the name of that boy.

After Alex left, Nicole and her groupies decided to fight back. Violet more than held her own, thanks to the training her father had forced upon her, but it didn't mean they didn't get a lucky hit or two in. When she too returned to her sanctuary in the library, the dark haired girl was sporting a split lip and a bruised eye. As though nothing had happened, she resumed her reading.

Alex was shoving books off the shelf when he found that he'd been locked in the library. The woman who tended the building didn't even seem to notice what he was doing. He hated getting away with something.

"You shouldn't do that. You'll damage the books." Violet told Alex calmly. She wasn't seated at a table this time, instead she was curled in a corner, the book she was reading resting against her knees.

"I don't care!" Alex shouted, beginning to toss them when no one corrected him for shouting in the library. "I want to go home! I hate it here!"

"Well, you're stuck here!" Violet huffed, slamming her book shut. "Just like me. So get over your temper tantrum and suck it up!"

"My mother is missing!" Alex shouted, tossing another book toward the librarian. It was becoming clear she was very near to losing her temper. It was everything she could do not to. "I should not be sitting here looking at stupid books! She needs me and all I can do is twiddle my thumbs!"

"No, all you are doing is acting like a spoiled little brat!" Violet finally hissed. "Boo hoo! Your mother is missing, at least you knew her!" She added, casting a glance to the librarian. "Instead of throwing a hissy fit, why don't you actually try looking around? When your father enrolled you, he would have been required to leave a contact number. If you bothered to find it, you would know his precise location."